Rail-joint.



A. J. BARITELL.

I RAIL JOINT. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 10, 190i) Patented Aug. 9, 1910;

. JBariZeR wififiupea I I mwm BAIL-JOINT.

Specification of Letters Yatent.

Patented Aug. 9', 19 10.

Application filed March '10, 1909. Serial No. 482,442.

,To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AUGUST J. Banrrnnn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Morgantown, in the county of Monongalia j flange of the rail is essential.

5. and State of West Virginia,- haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Rail-Joints, of which the following is a specification. j

This invention relates .to railway rail 10 joints, and has for its object-to provide an improved joint so constructed and-arranged that the meeting ends of railway rails will be held firmly in alinement and against lat-. eral relative movement, and against depression at their junction, the joints performing three useful functions in the provision of but one formot plate, which functions have long been recognized as desirable in the art, but which have heretofore been only accomplished in separate devices, also each function supplements the others in adding to the stability ofa trackway.

The invention has for a further object to rovide a railway rail. joint of this character which will besim le and economical in construction and durable. I Other objects and advantages'will be apparent from the following'description, and it will be understood that changes in the v specific structure shown and described may be made vwithinthe sco e of the claim without departing from t e spirit of the. invention. In the drawings forming a part of this specification, and in which like numerals of mfprence indicate similar parts in' the severaf'views, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a rail oint constructed in accordance with this invention, Fig. 2 IS a vertical cross sec-- :tion thereof on the line m-w of Fig. 1, Fig.

3' is a cross section of a modified form of the fish plates which I employ in carrying out- .the invention,

ii accordance with this invention comprises a .otfish lates or splice bars-1 secured by means of bo ts 2 and nuts 3 to the abuttin ends of rails. Each fish plate 1 is formed with the vertical or web portion 5 overlapthe meeting portion is centrally recessed or awa the rail we thus providingl the shou .5 at'the top inclining inwar ly and Lp'wardly from the web 5. As illustratedttlie vertical portion 5. engages snu 1y between the head? and base flangeB of t e rails, the

.2; The rail joint constructed and arrangediii ends of the rails 4. Theintermediate vertical portion lying in spaced relation with the web. As will be explained,

this snug engagement between-the head and The fish plate 1s-further formed with the inclinedflange 9 at its lower edge which extends over thebase flange'S of each rail and overlaps the same, extending beneath the base of the rail to a point spaced from the central plane of'the web of the rail forming a chair and having its inner edge bent downward centrally over a portion of its length to form a vertically depending flange I 10. A v-shaped recess is thus formed for the reception one flange 8 of the rail.- The lower en are cut away to a spaced distance from portions of the plates.

the adjacent ends of the fish plates, the

ends of w 'ich are adapted to rest upon adjacent ties 11 and are securedthereto by spikes 12, the depending flanges 10 having t eir ends abutting against the ties 11. The I flanges 10 are secured together-in any suit-- able manner as for example, by means of bolts 12 and nuts 13; By means of the flanges 10 wed ed between the ties 11, creeping of the. rai s is prevented, and the rail joint, ,asa whole, is held against endwise th ust due to the passage of trains over the meeting ends of the rails. By having the fish plates 1 each formed, as described, in one piece,- the construction of the rail joint is simplified, afiording a small number of joints and bolts, and rendering the rail joint more durable and easily assembled. In Figs. 2 and 3 it will be seenthat th vertical portion 5 contacts with the web only at its upper'portion by means of the shoulder 5, the engagement of the base flanges 8 of the rail between the opposed V-shaped assages in the plates, serving to holdthe ower portions'of therails in secure registration and against vertical movement rela tively. By this means, the device is made adaptable to rails having flanges of various widths and thicknesses, and its ap lication more efiicient, by enablin the rigi clam ing of the flange of the rai so that there w 1 be no loose play between thebase of the rail and the fish plates.

From the foregoing descri tion it will be seen that the'construction o the angle bars employed for connectingthe meeting ends of the rail in Fig. 3 are somewhat'modified 'to that shown in 2, the lower shoulder forming the surfaces of securely in horizontal alinement.

said bars with the web of the rail being dis pensed with, leaving that port-ion of the fish plates in a yielding position in respect to the rail.

In similar devices dependence has iisually been placed upon snug engagement of the vertically extending portion of the fishplates between the lower portion of the tread or head ofthe rail and the upper surface of the flange, whereby the rail ends are held Under such construction, with a slight variation in Y the thickness of thejengaged parts of the rails, which might' be due elther to corrosion or to blows or wear of machinery used in the making of the rails, the rails would not be securely held against lateral displacement, relatively, and the lates might not fit between the flange and t e rail head with sufiicient tightness to hold them in accurate horizontal registry. Also, such devices usually have to be made in special sizes for different sizes of rails The present device is adapted to use with various sizes of rails, and as will be appreciated is not dependent upon the wedging of its vertical portions between the flange and head of the rail for retention of the rails against relative lateral dis lacement. It will be seen that shouldthe distance between the head and flange of the rail be too great for the wedging of the vertical portion therebetween, the shoulder 5 will serve with ample security to hold the rail in secure registry against lateral displacement by positive engagement against the opposite sides of the webbed ortion of the rai The tight adjustment ov the nuts 3 will'insure the snug engagement'of the flange 9 upon the upper surface of the rail flange, at the same time that the shoulders 5 are brought into forceful engagement upon the opposite sides'of the web, and the shoulders will colla se under clamping action of the securin bo lts, forcing the lower edge of the vertical port-ion downward against the flange, whereby the rail ends will be held in rigid vertical alinement. The subsequent adjustment of the nuts 13 upon the bolts engaged through the flanges 10 will draw the chair portions inward and force them upwardly in firm engagement with the base of the rail thus serving to hold and truss the rail ends setively.

What is claimed is:

In combination with oppositely disposed ties having inclined surfaces extending from the upper edges thereof to a suitable distance above the lower surfaces of the ties, of a rail 'oint com rising. a pair of angular bars a apted to be secured to the meeting ends ofthe adjacent rails, flanges forming a part of said barsandfrom the lower edges of which are parallel to the basal o positely projecting portions of said bars, tie latter being properly constructedand arranged and adapted to lie in close' relation to one another throughout their entire length, the opposite ends of said flanges being inclined to correspond with the inclined surfaces of-the ties and in direct contact therewith along their entire meeting surfaces, with the remaining portions of the angle bars resting in direct contact with the upper surfaces of the ties leading from the inclined surfacesformed thereon, and

means for removably connecting the said depending flanges, whereby the angle bars together with the rails attached thereto are curely against vertical "displacement rela-- depending there rigidly held between the adjacent ties and partially supported by the contacting in-i clined ends of the flanges and the correspondingly inclined faces of the ties.

In testimony whereof I aflix iny'signature, in presence of two witnesses.

- AUGUST J. BARITELL. Witnesses EDWARD G. DoNLEY,

JOHN L. HATFIELD. 

